halfway through Kentucky, almost to Guatemala

A few big "bike" wins recently.

I crossed the 2,000 mile mark for this year.

That got me thinking, "I wonder how far from Santa Cruz that would get me if I rode in one direction?"

That's halfway through Kentucky, almost to Guatemala, nearly to Hawaii, and just into Alaska.

Second, I crossed the 1,000 mile mark since tracking my mileage in April for Commute for a Cause (http://www.commuteforacause.blogspot.com). I'm raising money for this great non-profit organization by donating .10/mile for every mile I ride, and accepting donations from others, as well. So that's about $100 for them.

Another win...I had a seven-day stretch of car-free living last week. Having a vehicle is a nice option for supporting myself, and I'm truly happy that when I wake up in the morning and run through my options on how to get to work, or how to run errands, or how to have fun, that "driving my truck" is the last one to pop into my head.

Commute for a Cause

Check it out: http://www.commuteforacause.blogspot.com

I am raising money for The Homeless Garden Project, by riding my bike.

I am going to contribute ten cents for every mile that I ride my bike - from 5/18 through 11/29.
In this 27 week period, I estimate that I will ride about 1,900 miles. This doesn't include a bike tour that Adria and I are going on in September (from Banff, Cananda to Jackson Hole, Wyoming) that will add about 800 miles.

My goal is to get other people (you and people you know) to contribute, too.

If you're wondering why I'm doing this, what prompted it, what the HGP is all about, and how you can help, you should check out the link above. I will be adding entries to it a couple of times a week.

Ray LaHood doesn't get it

This week I've been researching trends in the transportation industry for an upcoming contract negotiation, and I ran across an interesting statistic (esp. interesting and inspiring from a bicycle commuter's perspective): the U.S. is in the middle of a trend that we have never seen: total vehicle miles driven is declining! Something like 2% since December.

Then I ran across this letter from Ray LaHood, the United States' newly appointed Transportation Secretary.

115 billion miles not driven since December! That's a lot of miles not driven. That's 4.6 million trips around the globe (in only three months). That's a lot of greenhouse gases not released into the atmosphere. That's a lot of money not given to foreign, oil-producing countries.

Then, I was talking with Adria during her morning commute and she mentioned that she has noticed less congestion on the roads lately when going through Silicon Valley, likely due to recent layoffs.

Now, I'm not a total idiot. I get it that it's the economy. And I am sympathetic to those who have lost their jobs (a few of these people are my friends). But for the U.S. Transportation Seceretary to suggest that we take our stimulus payment (part of Obama's recovery plan - is this for real, by the way?) and:

dump it into our gas tank
so we can sit in our cars
probably alone
to get across town
or to another town
to go to the mall
and ride the escalators
and walk around under fake lighting
and buy stuff we probably don't need
and sit in traffic on the way home
probably alone

just doesn't make sense to me.

So here's my suggestion for how to spend your stimulus payment: buy a bike from your local bike shop. Challenge yourself to replace a couple of car-dependent trips per week with your bike. Explore your neighborhood. Drive halfway to work and bike the rest. Be a "hunter/gatherer" on your bike - ride your bike to the grocery store (or farmer's market!) and bring your dinner home on your bike. It will satisfy the caveman in you, and it's close to the the best feeling ever.

And if you do end up going to the mall...at least carpool.

the four laws of bike commuting

I made a choice 16 months ago to sell my car and fully support myself on a bicycle. I was inspired by a book (How To Live Well Without a Car) - the premise of which was "If you can get to work reliably without a car, you don't need one." I molded my life around this premise. Luckily I live and work in Santa Cruz so getting to work without a car is not difficult. The rest of my daily routine - surfing, yoga, mountain biking, and food gathering are all within a 4-mile radius of my home. I am 106 steps from the ocean for surfing; I am four miles from the yoga dive; I am a 45-minute bike ride from epic trails; and I am less than one mile from New Leaf. For the past 16 months, I have definitely learned how to live well without a car.

Supporting myself on a bicycle for 16 months has taught me a lot about myself. So far, I have distilled those learnings into my "Four Laws of Bike Commuting."

1. Have fun.
(share pictures of funny stuff you see on your rides, talk to people, wave at fellow bicyclists, slow down and look around, explore different routes)

2. Be prepared.
(know your ride and how to fix it, stay in tune with the weather, have emergency cash stashed somewhere on your ride, carry extra lighting and batteries, make sure people know where/when you are riding, buy a bus pass for days when you need to rest, buy the best gear you can afford, invest in a RoadID (http://www.roadid.com/), know that you will eventually be struck by an oblivious driver, know and obey the rules of the road and respectfully stand up for bicyclists' rights when you are on the road)

3. Don't bitch.
(you made a tough choice that most people will never understand - keep your chin up, always)

4. Don't ask for help when things get hard.
(don't let people bail you out of adverse conditions unless your welfare is at stake)

I can write these rules because I have broken all of them. I have ridden for days where I was having no fun at all. I have been stranded because I didn't have the tools or knowledge to fix a mechanical issue. I have complained about the choice I made, and questioned why I sold my car. I have slept in on a cold, dark, rainy morning hoping my aweseome girlfriend would offer take me to work. And in the end, I was the most grateful and had the most fun when I followed all of these rules.